Former leading New Zealand publisher and bookseller, and widely experienced judge of both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, talks about what he is currently reading, what impresses him and what doesn't, along with chat about the international English language book scene, and links to sites of interest to booklovers.

Monday, October 30, 2017

New Zealand’s only Māori literary journal goes global

The third edition of New Zealand’s only Māori literary journal Ora Nui goes on sale this week, after an
Auckland launch at the Tim Melville Gallery on 19 August.Ora Nui
3, Going Global takes Māori literature into an international space by
including literature, art and photography from not only Māori writers and
artists, but contributors from Asia and Europe.

“What we see in this edition is an increasing diversity of Māori voices
from Aotearoa New Zealand and abroad. There is no template for the Māori
identity anymore. These writers are all influenced by traditional cultural
markers like tikanga and te reo Māori. But there are also new forces at play.

“Many come from multi-cultural backgrounds, and the influence of travel
is very present. They are also digital natives so social media and the internet
are very present. Māori writing feels very layered. Culture is more complex,
nuanced and shifting.

“By juxtaposing Māori prose with Asian and European writing,
similarities and differences emerge. There are obvious differences in the use
of language and metaphor but there are common themes of identity, diversity,
nationhood and cultural evolution. Essentially a very disparate group of
writers is often writing about the same things.

“When we limit contributions to Māori writing a very closed
self-referencing conversation emerges. In this edition of Ora Nui,Māori lead an
international dialogue and I think this makes for much more dynamic,
interesting content.”

Ora Nui, Māori Literary
Journal was launched in 2012 and is supported by funding from Creative New
Zealand.